In various localities, gophers have become unwanted pests due to uncontrollable damage to orchards, gardens and other types of vegetation. Gophers or moles live in underground burrows which may include individual tunnels or runs of one-half mile or more in length. A community of gophers typically build a labyrinth of such underground runs and can become severe economic liabilities to farmers and other people engaged with agriculture. Accordingly, many measures have been taken by farmers and gardeners to eradicate these animals. Unfortunately, the extent of the underground labyrinth of tunnels and the multiple exits from these tunnels have made gophers extremely difficult to find and kill.
One known method of killing gophers or moles is to introduce a poisonous gas through one of the entrance or exit holes into the gopher burrow. The gas either kills the gopher or drives the gopher out through another hole where it can be killed by conventional means, e.g. a gun or club. It is important, however, to ensure that the poisonous gas does not escape back through the entrance hole, thereby causing damage to surrounding agriculture or possibly being inhaled by the user. To prevent this from occurring, the prior art has mainly focused on pressurized cartridges that form poisonous gases, such as chloro-cyanic gas, through chemical combustion and then distribute these pressurized gases into the gopher burrows. Typically, the containers have a tube that can be inserted deeply into the gopher burrow so that the chemical combustion necessary to liberate the gas takes place in the burrow after the gas has been discharged from the cartridge. This allows the operator to release the gas from a safe distance and ensures that all of the poisonous residue drops into the underground burrow.
Although the above described pressurized cartridges are somewhat effective, they are complicated to use and relatively costly to manufacture. In addition, there is a danger that the highly pressurized cartridge may explode if, for example, the operator produces too much pressure within the cartridge or improperly mixes the various chemicals. Accordingly, a need exists for a relatively inexpensive, safe and uncomplicated means for locating gopher burrows and exterminating the gophers residing within the burrows.